REPRODUCTION. 359 



In such a retreat as this the amateur pteridologist 

 may watch the gradual development of his lovely 

 favourites, admire their manifold beauties and graces, . 

 and accept the smiles of gratitude with which they 

 greet him, as they root into the nooks and crannies, 

 or comfortable pots prepared for them, all well stored 

 with the fibry peat in which they delight, or the new- 

 fashioned cocoa-dust, which seems to suit their appe- 

 tites better than anything else ; and here, if he be a 

 Christian, he may lift his heart in loving adoration 

 and praise to the blessed God, who has adorned the 

 earth with such loveliness for His own glory. And, 

 surrounded by such opportunities, the botanist may 

 most advantageously pursue those investigations on 

 the structure, the germination, the growth, and the 

 fructification of this tribe of plants, which are yield- 

 ing results so remarkable, so striking. Some of these 

 results, as being the most interesting facts connected 

 with the history of ferns, I will endeavour briefly to 

 describe, under the guidance of that able botanist, Dr 

 Wilhelm Hofmeister. 



How does a Fern reproduce its kind ? Seeds, such 

 as those which flowering plants produce, it has none ; 

 but it yields millions of organs which serve instead of 

 seeds to originate a new generation of its kind, though 

 their structure and the mode of their development 

 are totally diverse from those of seeds. If we take a 

 leaf of a Polypodium, the common P. vulgare from 

 a hedge will do just as well as any exotic species, 

 we shall find, if it is in fruit, that its back is studded 



